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Help mastitis

I have developed mastitis in my left breast and this is so painful. How long does it last? and is there anything I can do about the pain? Also why can I not feed my LO off of it for 24 hrs what would I do if I didnt have a pump? This is hard on me bc my left breast does not produce enough milk to satisfy her : ( and I do not want to give her a bottle.

Re: Help mastitis

WOW I thought the nurses was wrong on that I thought getting rid of the milk was the best. Now I can only nurse on one side at a time should I pump when not nursing on that side? Its only in my left breast.

Re: Help mastitis

The nurse said I couldn't nurse on it they told me to pump for the first 24 hrs because of the antibiotics : ( Also I was told the antibiotics will give my LO and I thrush is this true?

Oh Jimminy Cricket. Sigh. OK, yes, antibiotics can put you and baby at a greater risk of developing thrush. (By no means is it a sure thing though.) But if you have a breast infection, and rest and NURSING a ton does not clear it up very quickly, then antibiotics are indicated. True mastitis is nothing to mess around with, it can make mom VERY ill, so if they are needed, take the antibiotics and just be on the lookout for thrush. It may help to avoid thrush if you take probiotics as well.

And it is perfectly safe to nurse baby when taking most anti-biotics. What the nurse said does not even make sense, as if you are taking oral antibiotics they are in your blood and thus would affect the milk of both breasts, not just the affected one. But again, this is perfectly SAFE. Jeepers Creepers.

Re: Help mastitis

WOW I thought the nurses was wrong on that I thought getting rid of the milk was the best. Now I can only nurse on one side at a time should I pump when not nursing on that side? Its only in my left breast.

I am not sure what you are asking. Why can you only nurse on one side at a time?

If I am understanding the history correctly, you were getting engorged after stopping pumping and now have ended up with mastitis. This is why oversupply can be so tricky, because the remedy for oversupply (letting the breasts get very full so they will regulate) can in turn, on occasion, cause serious issues like this. So, based on that, I think you do want to keep "emptying" that breast, at least until you are over the mastitis, and if baby cannot do that, you may want to pump as well. Don't totally neglect the other breast but you could allow baby to nurse more on the affected breast, if that makes sense.

Re: Help mastitis

yes you have the history correct. I can only nurse on one side at a time bc she doesn't nurse no more than ten minutes per feeding and I worry about her getting enough hindmilk. She can not empty either one of my breasts.

Re: Help mastitis

I would suggest you not worry about hind milk right now, I am not sure what your concern is but this is seldom a big issue (or an issue at all) and defintely this is not something to worry about when you are dealing with mastits.

Rest and relax and nurse as frequently as you can, don't worry so much about duration.